


Team SLVR

by Wickedershelf21



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2019-12-30 04:31:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 14,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18308234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wickedershelf21/pseuds/Wickedershelf21
Summary: Sylvia Price is a first-year student at Beacon Academy, fresh from Signal. Lori Delgado is a runaway from an abusive father. Vernon O'Connor is an exile from his home nation of Atlas. Reese Caster is a technological genius from Sanctum.These four kids never expected to meet each other at Beacon, but could it be that destiny has brought them together?





	1. Silver Trailer (Sylvia)

As she swiped at the training dummy in Signal's training yard, Sylvia thought of her parents. She would only get to see them for a few hours before she had to leave for Beacon. At least she had some friends that were going to the Academy, and she heard that sometimes the students have time to visit Vale. Someone running towards her triggered her semblance. She spun on her heel, raising her sword into the air to block the blow. Nightingale's blade easily stopped the mace that came for her head.

"Devin," She said. Devin Marcus was the biggest bully in Signal. And he was the most violent.

"Hello, Sylvia," He said in his low voice.

Sylvia brought Nightingale around his side, pressing a switch that caused the blade to extend into a whip that wrapped around his midsection. She spun hard, and threw Devin to the ground.

"What is going on out here?" A voice shouted.

"Mister Xiao Long! I'm sorry sir, but Devin attacked me," Sylvia explained to the blond teacher.

"I did not-" he was cut off by Taiyang.

"Don't start with me, Marcus. I know you. Come with me," he said.

"Yes, sir," Devin said reluctantly.

Sylvia was about to go back to what she was doing when her semblance flared again and she turned, Nightingale ready.

"Woah, kid. Calm yourself," she heard her older brother. Hugo was a second-year at Beacon.

"Hugo?"

"Hey, sis," he said. She ran up and hugged him. Her short form only came to his chest.

"Heya, you Goliath," she said jokingly.

"Hey, I'm not tall, you're just short," he laughed.

"Where's mom and dad?" Sylvia asked.

"Their inside. Waiting on you at your dorm so we can help you pack," Hugo explained.

The two of them made their way to her dorm room, where her roommate Lori was talking to her parents.

"Lori!" She called out.

"Syl!" Lori called back.

"I see you met my parents," Sylvia laughed.

"Yeah, and your brother," Lori told her.

"Oh Oum, what'd he say?" Sylvia asked.

"Nothing bad. Just that they were here to help you pack and then they left. That reminds me... I have good news for you!" Lori said.

"What is it?" Sylvia inquired.

"I got into Beacon with you!" She said.

"Yay!" Sylvia cheered.

The two girls, with the help of Sylvia's parents, finished packing in time for the first airship to Beacon. Sylvia looked in the mirror to make sure she looked okay. Her light skin blended in with her long silver hair, all in a braid that was draped over her shoulder and ran down to below her chest. She wore a tank top with a black leather jacket and jeans with combat boots. Nightingale was sheathed on her back. Lori came in to tell her they had to go. They went to Signal's landing pad, and boarded the airship after saying their goodbyes.

"Ready?" Sylvia asked as the ship took off.

"Long as you're here," Lori responded. Lori leaned her head over on Sylvia's shoulder after they sat down, and Sylvia leaned her head into Lori's. Both girls stared out the window, wondering what the new year would bring.

 

* * *

To those who read this: Please note that this is ported over from Wattpad and I have no experience with AO3. Please be patient with me as I try to figure out how the heck it works. Thank you!

 

Wickedershelf out!


	2. Gold Trailer (Lori)

"You worthless child! Get back here!" The girl's father shouted. Lori knew what would happen if he caught her.

 

She knew that if she could make it back to Signal, she'd be okay. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. He drew his chain dagger, Earth's Blessing, and threw it at her. The chain wrapped around her legs, and she fell to the ground. Her father now drew her weapon, the Predator's Claw, and raised it over his head. She knew he was using her weapon because he wished to make it look like an accident. She shut her eyes tight and awaited the end. But the blow never came. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that a whip had wrapped around the sword's blade, preventing it from moving.

 

"Leave her alone!" She recognized the voice as Sylvia Price, a student at Signal.

 

"You are powerless to stop me!" Her father shouted, retrieving Earth's Blessing and throwing it at her. She effortlessly dodged it, retrieving her whip and transforming it into a sword.

 

As her father struck at Sylvia, she moved to retrieve Predator's Claw, which her father had discarded in favor of his own weapon. She picked it up and pressed a switch. The blade split down the middle, and folded outward into an arc. A string of hard light dust appeared between the two arms, forming the sword into a bow. She took aim, and fired a hard light arrow. It hit her father square in his back, knocking him down. Her father's semblance kicked in, and his entire body vanished from sight. Lori knew he'd go after Sylvia first, and she couldn't let anyone die for her own demons. She closed her eyes and activated her semblance. With Predator's Sight active, she could see her father moving as if he was still visible to the naked eye. She fired another hard light arrow, this time infused with energy dust. When the arrow hit him, electricity arced through his body. He crumpled to the ground, and Sylvia grabbed Lori's hand and began to run.

 

"We need to go! We can't beat him!" She shouted.

 

"But what do we do?" Lori asked, her mind and heart racing.

 

"We get to Signal! Someone there can help us. Mr. Xiao Long is usually leaving around this time! We might be able to catch him," Sylvia said.

 

"Then let's go!" Lori shouted. Her father was cloaked again. She knew they didn't have much time.

 

They ran through the city of Vale, sticking to the main streets so Lori's father would have a difficult time outright attacking them. Finally, they came to Signal Academy.

 

"I-I think he's already gone..." Lori said dejectedly.

 

"Found ya!" Her father yelled.

 

Lori watched in horror as Sylvia was disarmed and then knocked down as her aura shattered. Her father turned to her.

 

"Your turn. But I'm not just gonna stop when your aura's gone," He said.

 

"N-no... please..." she said, hope extinguished.

 

He brought his dagger down toward her, but, as before, the blow never came. She heard a grunt, and looked up. Taiyang Xiao Long stood over her, his arm blocking the dagger. He threw a punch with his free hand, and her father was knocked backwards. He attempted to recover, but Taiyang was already following through with another swing. Her father never had a chance. He cloaked and she knew he ran away.

 

"Are you two okay?" Taiyang asked.

 

"Yes, sir," Sylvia said, getting up.

 

"Yeah..." Lori said.

 

"Good," he told them.

 

"If I may, sir... why are you still here?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Well... I'm glad to say that this is the first time that I've been happy to have extra paperwork," they all laughed.

 

* * *

 

Lori woke up on the Beacon airship, and felt Sylvia's head on top of hers. She was glad to have met Sylvia that day, and always would be. After all, she wouldn't be on her way to Beacon if Sylvia hadn't shown up.


	3. Bronze Trailer (Vernon)

"Filthy Faunus!"

 

Vernon knew his cover was blown. For years he'd been able to keep up his disguise and hide his Faunus traits. But that all changed when he tried to apply to the Atlesian Military. Even though he was only 16, he still was chosen specially by Jacques Schnee for the role. Until he was asked to remove the jacket that concealed his long scorpion tail.

 

"Get him!" Jacques shouted. Atlesian soldiers raised their weapons towards him as he dashed away. His scorpion traits gave him increased agility and awareness, so when they opened fire, he was able to dodge the rounds. Unfortunately, running from the guards also meant he was running into the city.

 

"Just need to get to the undercity..." he mumbled as he ran.

 

He finally saw an elevator to the undercity. But he also saw a man in green and black standing in between him and it. And he saw General Ironwood. The soldiers pursuing him stopped, guns raised, with Jacques Scheen in front. He was trapped.

 

"Soldiers, stand down!" The General ordered. Almost immediately, the soldiers lowered their guns.

 

"What is your name, young Faunus?" The man in green asked.

 

"V-Vernon," He said.

 

"Very good. I'm-"

 

"Professor Ozpin. Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

 

"So you know me."

 

"My semblance allows me to know a lot about a person from the first word out of their mouth."

 

"That's an... interesting semblance to have."

 

"It comes in handy when you're a Faunus in Atlas."

 

"Very true," Ironwood said, "Jacques, what is the meaning of this?"

 

"James, this Faunus tried to lie his way into the Atlas Military," Jacques said, obviously lying, "I found out and your men went to stop him."

 

"Jacques, I know you hate the Faunus, and that you hate admitting you're wrong. Both are clouding your judgement in this case. And while I can no longer allow him into the Atlesian military, Ozpin and I have come to an agreement on him going to Beacon Academy," Ironwood said.

 

"Very well. Weiss will set him straight," he mumbled the last part.

 

"What was that, Jacques?" Ozpin asked.

 

"I said I'm glad something worked out for him," Jacques lied.

 

"Okay, then," Ozpin said, not believing a word of it.

 

"Thank you, Professor," Vernon said to Ozpin.

 

"You've shown skill in battle. That's exactly what I look for when it comes to admittance to my Academy," Ozpin responded, boarding his Bullhead. Vernon soon followed.

 

_Beacon_ , _here_ _I_ _come_ , he thought as they flew.


	4. Diamond Trailer (Reese)

"Hey, Reese!" The blue-haired girl heard someone say as she tuned up her exosuit.

 

"Hey Selina!" She called, not looking up from her work.

 

"Whatcha doing?" Selina asked.

 

"Tuning up Diamond," she responded, gesturing to the blue exosuit.

 

"But she's already so strong! Why does she need any more strength?" Selina inquired.

 

"I'm going to Beacon, Selina. I want to be sure I don't screw up," Reese explained.

 

"Oh, I forgot you were admitted to Beacon. I'm gonna miss you," She said.

 

"I'm gonna miss you too, sis," Reese responded sadly.

 

"I'll still visit you though!" Selina said happily.

 

"You'd better," Reese joked.

 

"Want me to help you test her?" The younger girl asked.

 

"Yeah, sure," Reese said, mounting up Diamond.

 

"Welcome, Reese Caster. All systems operational," the suit said.

 

“Thank you, Diamond,” Reese said, putting on her helmet.

 

“Of course, ma’am,” Diamond responded.

 

Reese walked down the halls of Sanctum with her sister, her suit clunking against the ground with every step.

 

“Diamond, optimize for silent running,” Reese said, getting fed up with the noise.

 

“Silent running mode engaged. Dampeners active. Servo speed limited,” Diamond confirmed.

 

“Here’s the training room,” Selina said.

 

“Good, let’s go,” Reese responded.

 

The two girls walked in the room, and took their places. Selina drew the Bleak Midwinter, while Reese pressed a button on her arm and a sword made of hard light dust formed around her right arm and hand.

 

“Ready?” Reese asked her sister.

 

“Of course,” Selina responded.

 

Selina started the match by unleashing a blast of ice dust from the Bleak Midwinter, and it began to freeze Reese’s suit.

 

“Core temperature dropping. Engaging countermeasures,” Diamond said. Immediately, fire dust began coursing through the outer plates of the suit, thawing it out and infusing the blade with fire energy.

 

Reese charged at her sister, using the jump jets on her suit to pick up speed rapidly. Selina raised Bleak Midwinter to block her blow, but she wasn’t fast enough, and the hard light blade knocked her across the arena. Selina got up and activated her semblance. Immediately, snow began to fall in the arena, starting slow but quickly escalating into a blizzard. Reese was blinded by the sheer amount of snow.

 

“Activate thermal overlay,” Reese said, and Diamond switched her helmet overlay to thermal. Before she could react, however, someone knocked her down and had a blade pointed at her chest.

 

“You need to pay more attention, sis,” Selina said.

 

“No, you do. Activate perimeter defense countermeasure,” Reese said.

 

Before Selina could process what happened, energy dust coursed through her, stunning her and giving Reese enough time to move away. Her aura fell from the hit.

 

“Well done, sis,” Selina said.

 

“You weren’t so bad yourself, kid,” Reese told her.

 

“Thanks,” Selina said.

 

Suddenly, a girl in spartan armor approached them.

 

“Are you Reese Caster?” She asked.

 

“Yes. Who are you?” Reese asked cautiously.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Pyrrha Nikos,” She said, extending her hand. Reese disengaged her sword and shook Pyrrha’s hand.

 

“Ok, Pyrrha, what do you need?” Reese asked.

 

“You were admitted to Beacon, right?” Pyrrha responded.

 

“Yeah,” Reese said.

 

“Well, I was too. I was wondering if you’d like to join me for the trip?” Pyrrha asked.

 

“Sure. Let me just get my stuff,” Reese said.

 

It took 15 minutes for Reese to get her stuff and meet Pyrrha at the transit hub near Sanctum. She said bye to her sister and parents and boarded the train.

 

“I wonder how this year will turn out...” Reese said quietly as the train departed, carrying Reese off into the unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is- the last trailer. This one was actually a lot of fun to write because I wanted a way for someone who hadn’t unlocked their semblance (Reese hasn’t, if you haven’t noticed) to attend Beacon, and I figured that the best way I could do that is by giving them an artificial semblance. Well, that’s all for now.
> 
> Wickedershelf out!


	5. The Shining Beacon

Sylvia woke up when Lori attempted to stand. She looked out the starboard side window of the airship and saw the air dock of Beacon Academy.

 

"I hope you were planning on waking me up," she said.

 

"U-Uh... Yeah, of course I was..." Lori stammered. Sylvia laughed.

 

"Oh, Lori. You know I can't be mad at you."

 

"Well, we should probably get going," Lori said, and they both disembarked from the airship.

 

As soon as they got off, Lori walked into someone who dismounted a bullhead.

 

"You need to watch where you're walking, my friend," Sylvia laughed.

 

"I-I'm so sorry," she said.

 

"Hey, it's cool. I know that was an accident," the kid said.

 

"Thanks. Not many people are that forgiving. I'm-"

 

"Lori Delgado. And you're Sylvia Price," the kid said.

 

"How do you know our names?" Sylvia asked, reaching for Nightingale.

 

"Hey, cool it, jack. Just my semblance," he explained.

 

"Well, what's your name?" Lori inquired.

 

"Vernon O'Connor," He said.

 

"Pleased to meet you," Sylvia said, reaching out her hand. Vernon shook it.

 

"Pleasure is all mine, miss," Vernon replied.

 

"Hey, leave me alone!" They heard somebody shout.

 

"Good luck, Faunus!" Someone shouted back. Sylvia drew Nightingale while Lori drew Predator's Claw. They saw a girl in what looked like a blue AK-209. Two pretty big guys were messing with her. One of them was pulling on one of her blue cat ears.

 

"Leave her alone!" Sylvia shouted.

 

"Oh? And what're you gonna do, shorty?" One of them asked.

 

"Yeah! Tell 'er, Cardin!" Another called.

 

"A lot more than you think," Lori replied, moving beside Sylvia.

 

"Let's go, Russell," the boy, apparently named Cardin, said.

 

"Yeah, they ain't worth our time," Russell agreed.

 

"But... lets give them something to think about," Cardin said, drawing his mace. Russell caught on and drew his daggers.

 

Cardin swung his mace hard at Lori, but she brought the Predator's Claw up to block. The mace contacted the sword, but Lori was sent backwards from the impact. Cardin followed through with another swipe, which caught Lori in the jaw, sending her on her back. Cardin stood over her at full height, a smirk on his face.

 

Meanwhile, Sylvia was struggling to fight against Russell's twin daggers. Her sword could block one, but then Russell could bring the other around. Then she had a thought. She jumped back, creating separation between them. Nightingale extended into whip form, and she wrapped it around his wrists, forcing his arms together. With the hindered mobility, Thrush was harmless. His daggers couldn't make contact when Sylvia only had to dodge one blade. She brought a fist around into his head, and then proceeded to kick him in the gut. Thrush doubled over, and Sylvia brought her elbow down on him, knocking him to the floor. She retracted Nightingale when she was sure that he wasn't going to continue fighting.

 

Vernon saw Lori having trouble with Cardin, and knew he had to do something. He ran at the tank, readying his tail. As Cardin swung his mace down at the incapacitated girl, Vernon brought his tail up at the weapon. He was able to output the same strength as Cardin, and he stopped the mace. Wrapping his tail around the handle, Vernon jumped back, tearing Cardin's mace from his hands. He swiped around with his tail, and knocked Cardin to the ground.

 

"Cardin! We have to go!" Russell yelled.

 

"Fine! You win this time, but don't get used to it," Cardin told the group as he retrieved his mace and left.

 

"Thanks, you guys," the blue-haired Faunus said.

 

"No sweat. Name's Vernon."

 

"I'm Lori."

 

"Sylvia."

 

"Nice to meet you. My name's Reese. Reese Caster," she said.

 

"You a techie?" Sylvia asked, gesturing to her suit.

 

"I guess you could call me that," Reese chuckled. "Her name's Diamond."

 

"Her?" Lori asked, confused.

 

"Diamond has an onboard AI, so it doesn't feel right to just think of her as a machine," Reese explained.

 

"That's understandable. Anyway, that Cardin fellow is a bit of a square, huh?" Vernon said.

 

"A what?" Sylvia asked, laughing.

 

"A square. A moron in your vocabulary, I suppose," Vernon explained.

 

"Well, in that case, you're right," Lori laughed.

 

"I think we'd work pretty well as a team," Reese observed.

 

"Agreed. Anyone got a way to ensure that?" Sylvia asked.

 

"I can set up our scrolls to send a signal to each other," Reese offered.

 

"Have at it," Vernon said, combing his hair back despite it still looking fine.

 

"You got it," Reese said as they handed her their scrolls. After doing many things than none of them understood, she handed them back. "Ok, so, when you land, press the button that looks kinda like a shield. That'll send a signal to our scrolls," she explained.

 

"Will all first year students please report to the auditorium for orientation," they heard Glynda's voice over the intercom.

 

"Well, come on, cats," Vernon said, going back to his rather strange way of talking. Either way, they still followed him.

 

When they got to the auditorium, Ozpin was beginning to speak. Sylvia just kind of ignored him, while her friends listened intently. She was more focused on Lori. She'd been Lori's friend since her first year at Signal, but... it was different now. She felt something else.

 

She was jarred from her thoughts when Lori put a hand on her shoulder.

 

"Syl, we need to sleep to the ballroom tonight. We don't have dorm assignments yet," Lori explained.

 

"Oh, thanks Lori. Was it that obvious that I was ignoring him?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Not really. I just know you," They both laughed.

 

The two of them walked into the ballroom, and were immediately greeted by a blond giant and a short brunette with red tips in her hair in a small scuffle. A black-haired girl nearby looked like she wanted to ask them to stop, but didn't. Soon, a girl with white hair, which Sylvia immediately recognized as Schnee Dust Company heiress Weiss Schnee. Weiss immediately told them off, and they stopped. The blond-haired girl took notice of Sylvia.

 

"Hello!" She called.

 

"Hey... you look familiar. Are you Mister Xiao Long's daughter?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Yeah. Name's Yang. This is my little sister, Ruby Rose," Yang said.

 

"Nice to meet you, Yang. I'm Sylvia Price, and this is my best friend, Lori Delgado,” Sylvia said.

 

“Nice to meet you as well. We’d better be getting to sleep though. Seems like the ice queen is getting restless,” they all laughed.

 

Lori and Sylvia wandered around until they found a spot to put their sleeping bags. They laid down right as the lights cut out in the room.

 

“Goodnight Lori.”

 

“Goodnight Sylvia.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the first (real) chapter of Team SLVR’s adventures. It was fun to write, but... it’s 3:00 in the morning and I’m exhausted, so don’t hate if there’s grammatical errors everywhere. Also, I really wanted to showcase Vernon’s fighting style, and I forgot to in his trailer, so that’s why I had the whole encounter with Cardin. Also, that’s why Reese was there... I forgot to mention she was a Faunus. Anyway, that’s all for now,
> 
> Wickedershelf out!


	6. Initiation

Sylvia woke up to find Lori on her chest. She figured it must've happened while they were asleep, Lori was notorious for moving in her sleep. All the same, she felt her face heat up.

 

"Lori?" She said, trying to keep an even tone.

 

"Hm?" Lori responded tiredly.

 

"Come on! Today's initiation!" Sylvia said in realization, shooting up to a sitting position.

 

"Ow..." Lori said as her head hit the floor.

 

"Oh, sorry!" Sylvia apologizes. Lori just laughed.

 

"It's all good," Lori responded.

 

"Will all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation please," Glynda said over the intercom.

 

"Well... let's go!" Lori called as she ran.

 

"Hey! Wait up!" Sylvia called back.

 

* * *

 

"Vernon! Get up!" Reese yelled at him, diving back when his scorpion tail shot out.

 

"Ok, ok, I'm up!" Vernon said, annoyed.

 

"Glynda just called everyone to Beacon Cliff," Reese said.

 

"Then let's go," Vernon said, getting up.

 

Him and Reese walked to where the rpl's were. They found theirs, but of course, Reese's was completely empty, except for a small revolver. Diamond walked up behind them. Vernon reached into his locker, bringing out two wrist-mounted blades, which he called the Scorpion's Pincers.

 

"Y'know, I've never seen your weapons until now," Reese observed.

 

"I usually just use my tail. It's stronger than my arms anyway. These are just a fallback," Vernon explained, combing his black hair back into its usual pompadour style. He wore a white t-shirt, jeans, a brown belt, black shoes, and a black leather jacket.

 

"Huh. I don't really need a fallback. Diamond has a countermeasure for everything. Can't freeze, burn, electrocute, petrify, or pierce her," Reese said.

 

"I guess she's one useful chick on the battlefield, huh?" Vernon said. Reese laughed at his choice of words.

 

"That she is," Reese agreed.

 

* * *

 

Sylvia had a bright smile on her face as she flew through the air over the Emerald Forest. She had faith in Reese's abilities, and hoped she would get paired with one of her friends. As she landed, she triggered the transmitter on her scroll, which displayed a message telling her that the signal was successfully sent.

 

"Now time to find-" she was cut off by a loud roar. She turned to see an Alpha Beowolf standing only a few feet from her.

 

"Oh, you want to fight?" She asked, readying Nightingale.

 

The Beowolf charged forward, swiping at her with its claws. Her semblance allowed her to easily avoid the swipes, and she swung with Nightingale, catching the Beowolf's arm. The blade cut through easily, severing the arm from the Grimm. It let out a roar of agony, and before she could react, it had her arm in its jaws. Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past her, striking the Beowolf's head. The creature fell to the ground and laid there for a moment before vaporizing into black mist.

 

"You okay, Syl?" Lori asked, swinging Predator's Claw back to its sword form.

 

"Yeah, thanks to you," Sylvia said gratefully. Lori ran up and hugged her.

 

"Just returning the favor," Lori said. Sylvia blushed, hoping Lori wouldn't notice.

 

"Let's get moving. Were being graded on this, remember?" Sylvia said.

 

"Oh! Right! Let's go!" Lori yelled, grabbing Sylvia's hand and leading her through the forest.

 

* * *

 

When he realized he was losing altitude, Vernon wrapped his tail around a tree limb, stopping his fall. The chitin plating protecting his tail stopped the landing from injuring him, and he dropped easily to the ground. As soon as he hit, he triggered the transmitter on his scroll, seeing that Sylvia's callsign had been answered. Reese answered.

 

"Vernon! I need... help!" She called. He heard her through the forest.

 

When he got to her, a Deathstalker had her suit pinned to the ground. Vernon readied his tail and charged. He flipped over and spun on his hand, swinging his tail around. His stinger caught he Deathstalker's legs, and the giant scorpion turned towards him.

 

"I could use some help!" Vernon yelled.

 

"I'm trying!" Reese called back, attempting to get up.

 

She activitated her suits ranged weapons systems, and a Gatling gun extended off of her arm. She let loose a barrage of bullets, tearing through one of the Deathstalker's arms. The pincer fell to the ground and turned to black mist. The Deathstalker turned back to Reese, but still swiped at Vernon with its tail. He dodged it, but barely. Reese let off another barrage, this time hitting the Deathstalker's face. As the creature reeled back, she activated another ranged weapon, and a shoulder-mounted missile launcher extended over her shoulder. She fired several missiles at the giant scorpion, and it went down, turning to black mist entirely.

 

"Thanks," Reese said as Vernon helped her up.

 

"No sweat, cat," Vernon replies as he walked off, combing his hair again.

 

* * *

 

Soon after, the pair came to a ruin. There were what looked to be chess pieces sitting on pedistals.

 

"You think these are the relics?" Reese asked.

 

"Well, there are some missing, and unless some square just put these out here to confuse us, I'd say they are," Vernon replied. They heard running behind them.

 

"Nevermore!" Sylvia shouted. Lori has Predator's Claw in bow form and was firing arrows at the large Grimm.

 

Vernon drew a .44 revolver from his pocket and took aim. Reese readied her missiles and Gatling gun, tossing her revolver to Sylvia, who didn't have a ranged attack. Lori continued to loose arrows at the Nevermore. Sylvia got up into a tree line using her whip and started shooting. Vernon was the first to actually hit the oversized bird, causing it to fire its feathers at him. He dodged them effortlessly. Lori continued firing arrows, but they weren't having much effect.

 

"Diamond, lock on," Reese said.

 

"Already on it, ma'am," Diamond replied.

 

Her visor had a small square over the Nevermore, signaling that she was locked on. She fired a barrage of missiles.

 

"Take this, you oversized chicken!" She yelled at it as her missiles made contact. The Nevermore screeched in pain. It fired feathers at Reese.

 

"Diamond, activate defense matrix," Reese said.

 

"Defense matrix online. Targets detected," Diamond said. Large energy rounds left the suit's Gatling gun, obliterating the feathers. "Targets eliminated."

 

"Well done!" Vernon yelled.

 

"Lori! Grab a relic and let's go!" Sylvia shouted.

 

Reese and Lori both ran for the pieces, both picking up a black rook.

 

"Let's go!" Vernon shouted.

 

"Good plan!" Sylvia responded.

 

The teams ran through the forest, avoiding Grimm along the way. Finally, they came to Beacon Cliff.

 

"How do you propose we make our way up?" Vernon asked.

 

"Vernon! Use the Scorpion's Pincers and your tail to climb. Lori, you're with me! We can work together with our swords to climb. Reese, use Diamond's jump pack to make your way up!" Sylvia called out. They all nodded in understanding.

 

Lori handed Predator's Claw over to Sylvia, then got on her back. Sylvia ignored the blush that creeped onto her face and jumped up, slamming Nightingale's blade into the rock. The sword pierced through, and Sylvia swung up, repeating the process with Predator's Claw. Lori hung on for dear life. Sylvia looked at Vernon and Reese. Vernon's weapons had been unable to climb the mountain alone, so him and Reese were working together. Reese would jump up using Diamond, and Vernon would stick them to the mountain using his weapons and tail. They finally reached the top, and Lori dismounted Sylvia, taking Predator's Claw back. Reese and Vernon arrived soon after.

 

"Reese, I don't think you realize how heavy Diamond is," he huffed.

 

"Sorry, Vernon..." she said.

 

"It's cool, cat. Don't worry about it," Vernon replied. Reese sighed in relief.

 

"Let's get back to the academy," Reese said.

 

Sylvia looked back and swore she saw rose petals coming from further down the cliff.


	7. Team SLVR

"Sylvia Price, Lori Delgado, Vernon O'Connor, and Reese Caster. The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces. From now on, you will work together as Team SLVR (Silver), led by... Sylvia Price," Ozpin said after he called them up to the stage.

 

As they left the stage, Lori had a bright smile on her face after hearing that Sylvia was leading the team. Vernon gently scratched Reese's head behind her ear, and laughed when she started to lean into him. She blushed when she realized what she was doing. They walked out to the ballroom, where they retrieved their belongings to take to their dorm.

 

"...Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long..." they heard as they walked past the auditorium. Sylvia thought she recognized most of the names, probably from Signal.

 

Finally they arrived at their dorm. Reese unlocked the door and, after laying her bags down, flopped over on one of the beds.

 

"Tired, Blue?" Vernon said, laughing. Reese laughed too, likely at the nickname he'd given her.

 

"A bit..." she said sleepily.

 

"Then get some rest. Ozpin said we wouldn't have any classes today," Vernon replied.

 

"We should all get some rest," Sylvia agreed.

 

"Yeah, especially after we nearly got torched by the ice queen," Lori replied, recounting when Weiss missed with her fire dust and nearly burned down the forest. Everyone laughed.

 

"Uh... guys?" Reese said.

 

"What?" Sylvia responded.

 

"Can we... maybe find a way to have bunk beds?" Reese asked.

 

"Why?" Vernon asked in return.

 

"I miss the ones at Sanctum," Reese explained.

 

"Fair enough. Let's get moving then," Sylvia ordered.

 

The four of them went to work quickly, Vernon and Reese lifting the beds as Sylvia and Lori made makeshift supports. The spare books in their room worked perfectly for that purpose. After about twenty minutes, their job was complete.

 

"So, what now?" Lori asked.

 

"Now... we sleep," Reese said, flopping back down on a lower bunk.

 

"I get top!" Vernon and Sylvia both said.

 

"You both take the top bunks. Me and Reese can take bottom," Lori offered.

 

"Sounds good to me," Vernon said.

 

"Let's hit the hay," Sylvia replied.

 

* * *

 

"I have... one stipulation," Torchwick said to the man standing across from him. A man who introduced himself as Fang.

 

"Well, what is it?" Fang replied in a gruff voice.

 

"I want Re- Ruby Rose. She put me in bad favor with Cinder Fall," Torchwick explained.

 

"Very well. The Nightprowlers will make it so," Fang agreed.

 

"And who is this, Roman?" He heard Cinder's voice.

 

"This is Fang. He has agreed to help our cause as payment for some of the Dust we've collected," Torchwick explained to her.

 

"Very good, Roman. You've won us another ally. And you didn't even need my help," she said mockingly.

 

"Listen here, Fall. I could've done it without you. You only expedited-" he cut off when he saw the fireball in her hand.

 

"Don't forget what I am capable of, Roman," Cinder said. Emerald and Mercury brought out Neo, who was struggling against their grip.

 

"Y-Yes, Cinder. It won't happen again," Torchwick said.

 

"Good," Cinder said, walking away.

 

* * *

 

"We have another team to worry about, my queen," Tyrian said.

 

"Who?" Salem asked.

 

"They're called SLVR. One of them has silver eyes. Like the Rose," Tyrian explained.

 

"Very well. When Taurus executes his attack on Beacon, make sure they fall," Salem ordered.

 

"Yes, my queen," Tyrian replied.

 

"Hazel," Salem addressed the brute.

 

"Yes, ma'am?" He replied.

 

"Make sure Taurus knows that we have two of them to worry about," Salem told him. He nodded.

 

"Yes, ma'am," he confirmed.

 

"Arthur," she turned to the scientist.

 

"Yes, my lady?" He answered.

 

"Go find a way to hijack their servers. We need access."

 

"It will be done."

 

"Good. Very good," she turned to the window, "This will be your last fight, Ozpin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to release this chapter. I couldn’t get it quite the way I wanted it, so it took me a while. But here it is now, so... enjoy!
> 
> Wickedershelf out!


	8. The Scorpion

Team SLVR nearly began to cheer as the bell rang on their last class of the day. Reese had decided that it was a good idea to have a day on the town in order to get to know each other. The rest agreed.

 

"Can you take us into Vale?" Sylvia asked the bullhead pilot.

 

"Of course, ma'am," he responded. They felt the bullhead lurch as its engines came out of their idle. Soon, they were landing at Vale's air docks.

 

"Let's go!" Lori cheered, jumping off of the ship. The rest followed.

 

"Cool it," Vernon laughed, trying to hold Lori down to the ground as she bounced. "It's like you have a jackhammer in your pants."

 

Lori laughed. "I am the jackhammer, Vernon."

 

"I think I'll call you that now. Jackhammer," Vernon said. Lori laughed harder.

 

"What do you guys say we go get some food?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Certainly," Reese said.

 

Finally, they came to a small cafe. They figured it would be okay, but upon entering, they found that a couple in their party were not welcome.

 

"We don't serve your kind here!" The cashier shouted as Reese walked up. She immediately jumped back, and Vernon moved into a battle position, his tail in a position to protect Reese should anyone come at her. A couple of men who looked to be huntsmen got up from their seats, weapons drawn.

 

"Leave," one of them said to Reese and Vernon.

 

"And what if we don't?" Vernon replied.

 

"Then we'll make you," The other huntsman said.

 

"Fine then. Come at us," Vernon said calmly, drawing the Scorpion's Pincers from their sheathes on his wrists.

 

He stood in a position to protect Reese, as Diamond was back at the academy, and she didn't have easy access to her pistol. He appeared to be the only one who was prepared for a fight. One of the huntsmen drew two daggers, and the other drew a cutlass. The one with daggers attacked first, but Vernon was easily able to block with the Pincers. He brought his tail around and stung the dagger-wielder. The huntsman collapsed to the ground. The cutlass-wielder swung his blade, but Vernon blocked with his tail.He brought a Pincer around, hitting the huntsman in the side. He collapsed with a broken aura.

 

"Let's go, guys," Vernon said. It was the first time they'd ever heard him talk normally. Reese placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

"Are you okay?" She asked.

 

"No. No, I'm not. People like that... huntsmen who align themselves with fools... they remind me how much this world simply hates our kind. How few people truly care about us," Vernon replied.

 

"We can still try, Vernon. People like them, you can't let them get you down. That's what they want. Don't hand them that victory," Reese told him.

 

They stopped walking entirely when they heard maniacal laughter from above them. They looked up to see a man in a trench coat above them, scars covering his exposed chest. He jumped down from his perch, unfurling his scorpion tail.

 

"Who are you?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Why, my name is Tyrian, and I have been sent to eliminate you," he explained.

 

"Why us?" Reese asked.

 

"Not all of you. Just... you," he pointed at Sylvia.

 

"W-Why me?" Sylvia asked, terror taking over.

 

"Your eyes, girl. They pose a threat to the Queen," Tyrian said.

 

"My... eyes?" Sylvia was confused.

 

Tyrian laughed. "You really have no idea, do you?"

 

"What do you-"

 

"Girl, your eyes are the bane of the Grimm's existence. The Queen demands that all who have silver eyes die!" Tyrian shouted as he struck at her with his tail.

 

Sylvia closed her eyes tight as she awaited the impact. Instead, she heard a cry of pain and felt someone fall into her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lori had taken the hit for her, and now Vernon had engaged the insane Faunus in combat.

 

"Lori...?" Sylvia saw the stream of red and purple that came from Lori's side. Sylvia searched for something to stem the bleeding with.

 

"Somebody help us!" Reese shouted.

 

They heard footsteps echoing down the now-empty streets. Tyrian hit Vernon with his tail, knocking him down and shattering his aura. The Faunus stood over the student, tail ready. A shotgun blast rang out in the night. Tyrian shot back and scampered away.

 

"Are you guys okay?" A girl asked. Sylvia looked up. Yang.

 

"S-She needs help..." Sylvia said, tears streaming down her face.

 

"Ruby! Weiss! Over here!" Yang called out. The two girls ran out of a nearby alley.

 

"What happened?" Weiss asked.

 

"They were attacked. He ran off before I could get a good look at him, though," Yang explained.

 

"We need to get her back to Beacon," Ruby said, pointing at Lori. "Someone call Blake. Tell her we need a bullhead here immediately."

 

"On it," Weiss said, pulling out her scroll.

 

"So... why were you all in town?" Reese asked Ruby.

 

"Well... Weiss wanted to check out the competition. Students from the other schools began arriving for the Vytal Festival today," Ruby explained.

 

"Huh... so basically, she wanted to cheat," Vernon observes.

 

"Basically," Ruby laughed.

 

They heard the whirring of a bullhead above them, and it touched down in the middle of the street. Blake exited alongside two huntsmen, both carrying a stretcher. They picked up Lori and put her on the stretcher, carrying her onto the bullhead. Sylvia was silent now, only staring at Lori's unmoving body, tears welling in her eyes. Reese and Vernon moved to her side.

 

"She'll be okay," Reese said, placing a hand on Sylvia's shoulder.

 

"What if she's not? What if we were too late?" Sylvia said quietly, the tears now rolling down her face.

 

"We can't burden ourselves with 'What if?'s. We have to think about keeping her alive until we get back," Vernon said.

 

"We're approaching the Beacon air docks!" The pilot called back. Ruby and Yang moved into position to move Lori off. Glynda and Ozpin met them at the docks with medical personnel.

 

"What happened?" Glynda asked Reese.

 

"We were attacked by a scorpion Faunus. She didn't have time to bring up her aura," Reese explained. Glynda mumbled something to Ozpin.

 

"Take this as a lesson, students. Always carry your weapons with you at all times. You never know when you may need them," Ozpin said.

 

"Yes, Professor," Reese and Sylvia said.

 

Sylvia looked on as the medical staff carried Lori away to the medical ward of Beacon. Reese and Vernon stood by her side.

 

"I'm sorry..." she whispered. She knew that Lori did it to save her, but also didn't want to believe that at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic isn’t dead! I’ll be honest, between the now three fanfics I’m working on now, I haven’t had a lot of time to work on this, but I’m going to be on summer break soon, so I’ll have plenty of time then!


	9. Forever Fall

Team SLVR has just barely had time to recover from their fight with Tyrian when the field trip happened. They'd heard rumors of an attack on the CCT the night before, and they wondered if the two events were connected. Everyone stopped worrying about that when they saw Cardin Winchester waiting on one of the bullheads with Jaune Arc.

 

"Ugh... bird-brain's coming with us..." Lori grumbled.

 

"Don't worry about him, Lori," Sylvia responded.

 

"But... Reese..."

 

"Don't worry about me," Reese said, "bird-brain's got a lot more coming to him if he decides to mess with me again."

 

"If you say so..." Lori relented.

 

Their bullheads took flight, and soon, Forever Fall was in sight. Lori was captivated by the forest, and hadn't even noticed that they'd landed until Sylvia began pulling her off of the bullhead.

 

"This place is beautiful," Lori said as she walked beside Sylvia.

 

"The forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, students," Glynda said, "But we're not here to sightsee. Professor Peaches asked you all to bring back one jar of sap from the trees deep in this forest. I'm only here to make sure you don't die while doing so."

 

Sylvia giggles quietly. It wasn't what Glynda said that was funny, it was just the way she said it. Lori thought she even saw a smile on the professor's face. They walked deep into the forest, and the teams branched off. Team SLVR went to a group of large trees near a stream. As they gathered their sap, Lori looked off into the water, thinking about her father. He started out okay after her mother died, but he slowly got more distant. At first, it was just more punishments for things she did wrong. Then it was confining her in her room. Then, she wasn't allowed to leave the house without him. Then came the physical punishments. Then, it became a daily thing. That's why she ran. She couldn't handle it anymore. So she left out her window and ran to Signal, where she met Sylvia.

 

"Lori? You okay?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Yeah. I'm fine, Syl. Just thinking about... him," she said.

 

"You don't have to worry about him anymore. You're at Beacon now," Sylvia comforted her friend.

 

"Yeah, thanks," Lori said. She then ran to her jar, which was about to overflow. Sylvia laughed.

 

Sylvia stopped when she felt her semblance activate. Her reflexes became sharper, and her senses became heightened. Something was watching them. A massive beowolf jumped out at her, but she brought up Nightingale and sliced its arm. The beowolf howled and backed up, and the rest of team SLVR jumped into action. Lori drew Predator's Claw and fired several arrows, Vernon lashed out with his tail, and Reese used her Gatling gun. The beowolf roared, and several smaller wolves charged out of the forest, running at the team. Reese gunned down two with her machine gun, and killed another with her missiles, Sylvia cut one down and strangled another with Nightingale, Vernon killed three with his tail and another with the Scorpion's Pincers, and Lori shot down two more with Predator's Claw. The alpha, enraged that its pack was being slaughtered, charged at Sylvia, who whipped around just in time to see the beowolf's claw hit her in the chest. She flew back, knocking down several trees before she stopped. Lori let out a cry of rage, charging forward with Predator's Claw. The alpha turned to her, but before it could react, it had a sword impaled through its head. Lori ran to Sylvia's side.

 

"Sylvia? Can you hear me?" She asked worriedly.

 

"Mmhmm," came Sylvia's reply. She was okay.

 

"Oh thank Oum," Lori said, relieved.

 

"Aura hasn't failed yet," Sylvia told her.

 

"Here, get up," Lori said, extending her hand. Sylvia took it and pulled herself up.

 

"Thanks," She said, and she dusted herself off.

 

"No problem, Syl. Do we have everything we need?" Lori asked Reese and Vernon.

 

"You bet," Vernon replied. Reese simply nodded.

 

"Well, let's get back to Glynda before any more Grimm show up," Sylvia suggested.

 

"Agreed," Lori said.

 

"You got it," Vernon replied.

 

"Let's move," Reese agreed.

 

The team regrouped and began their walk back to the rendezvous. As they walked, they could hear fighting from their left. They turned, weapons drawn, and ran. When they got there, they saw the kid they knew as Jaune Arc, a pitiful excuse for a huntsman, cutting down an Ursa purely on his own. Lori's mouth sat agape as she watched the White Knight severed the bear's head from its body. They watched as Jaune picked Cardin up off of the ground, and said something that left the brute speechless. As Jaune walked away, Team SLVR ran to join him.

 

"Jaune, right?" Reese asked.

 

"Uh, yeah... that's me," Jaune replied. Lori laughed.

 

"That was well done back there, White Knight," she said, using the team's nickname for the inept fighter.

 

"W-Well... thanks," Jaune said, turning to keep walking. "I gotta go catch up with my team, so..."

 

"Well, don't let us keep you," Sylvia said, and she led her team away.

 

The team walked back to the rendezvous without further hinderance, and met up with teams RWBY, CRDL, JNPR, and several other teams that that they didn't even listen to the names of. Glynda said a few words, and boarded a bullhead, with the other teams following onto their respective bullheads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... forgot this fic existed. Again. Anyway, here’s another chapter for those of you who actually read this. Feel free to comment, leave kudos, whatever. Don’t really matter to me.
> 
> Wickedershelf out!


	10. The Dream

Sylvia looked around, but saw nothing. Nothing but black. Then, she saw his yellow eyes, glowing in the darkness. The Scorpion. Tyrian. He emerged from the shadows, cackling.

 

"My, my... the little girl is alone. No weapon... no friends... no savior. Shame she survived, by the way. But what could have happened? What would have happened if that hothead hadn't been there?" Tyrian taunted. She saw Lori, down on the ground, panting. The Scorpion walked over to her.

 

"Wait!" Sylvia shouted.

 

"Oh-ho-ho, I don't think so," Tyrian said, picking Lori up by the collar.

 

"No, please!" Sylvia begged.

 

Tyrian said nothing more, but instead jabbed his tail at Lori, leaving a large hole in her gut. The Scorpion then threw the huntress down, and began to stab her repeatedly with his blades, cackling all the while. Sylvia began crying, begging Tyrian to stop until finally, he did, and Lori fell dead at Sylvia's feet.

 

"N-no... why..." Sylvia murmured as Tyrian walked up to her.

 

"This, little girl, is what silver eyes brings," Tyrian said, and he stabbed Sylvia in the chest. She screamed.

 

She woke up sweating, shooting up in her bed. The rest of her team was still asleep, by some miracle. Well, most of her team, anyway.

 

"Sylvia? Are you okay?" Lori asked.

 

"N-Not really..." she replied.

 

"Want to talk about it?" Lori asked, pulling herself onto Sylvia's bed.

 

"W-Well... it was... it was Tyrian. He appeared and... I saw you on the ground. He picked you up and... stung you, and... he just kept stabbing and stabbing... then h-he came after me, and... I woke up," Sylvia explained, beginning to cry.

 

"Hey... it's okay... I'm okay," Lori said, putting an arm around the silver-haired girl. Sylvia hugged her, crying into her shoulder.

 

"It's my eyes, Lori! That's why he's after us!" Sylvia cried.

 

"Well, I won't let him get to you, and he won't take me down either. I promise," Lori said, hugging Sylvia tighter. Reese stirred in her bed and looked up at the pair.

 

"Everything okay...?" She asked groggily.

 

"Yes, Reese, go back to sleep," Lori said, turning back to Sylvia. "Syl... it was only a dream. I'm okay. You're okay. We're safe."

 

"I-I know, but... it just seemed so real..." Sylvia murmured.

 

Lori didn't say anything else. She just held Sylvia close, rocking her ever so slightly. Her cries reduced to whimpers, then went silent altogether.

 

"Lori...?" Sylvia asked after a little while of silence.

 

"Yes, Sylvia?" Lori responded.

 

"Can you... can you lay with me tonight? I don't feel like being alone..." Sylvia asked, sure that her face went red.

 

"Sure," Lori said, a kind smile on her face.

 

Sylvia laid back down, and soon Lori joined her. Sylvia moves close to her friend, and Lori put an arm around the silver-haired girl.

 

"Good night, Sylvia," Lori said.

 

"Good night, Lori," Sylvia replied.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Reese was up before anyone else. Snickering as she saw Sylvia and Lori, she walked to the bathroom to get ready. After showering and getting dressed, she walked out of the dorm room to head to breakfast.

 

"Reese!" Someone shouted. She turned around to see Pyrrha running at her.

 

"Hey, Pyr!" Reese called back.

 

"How are you, Reese?" Pyrrha asked.

 

"I'm tired. Sylvia had a nightmare last night and woke us all up. Except for Vernon. I swear, that guy sleeps like a rock," Reese replied. Pyrrha just laughed.

 

"Well... we have a similar issue in our dorm. Jaune sleeptalks constantly, and none of us are capable of sleeping. Nora is an exception, however, but she's always been the anomaly," Pyrrha said. Reese was confused with Pyrrha's choice of words, but continued as usual.

 

"Did you hear of the guy we've taken to calling 'the Scorpion?'" She asked. Pyrrha nodded.

 

"He's said to be aiding the White Fang," The spartan girl replied.

 

"He didn't seem like any of their usual recruits, but... we haven't gotten wind of any other Faunus-based terror groups. But it's odd... as if he was only after Sylvia," Reese told her. Pyrrha's green eyes widened.

 

"I heard a legend... about people who have silver eyes," Pyrrha started, looking straight at Reese. "That they are destined to be warriors. And that one look from them could strike down a Grimm."

 

"And you think that's why the Scorpion was after Sylvia?" Reese asked.

 

"It's possible. I'm not sure why anyone would want to help the Grimm, though," Pyrrha replied.

 

"Vernon and I were talking last night, and... he mentioned someone named 'Salem.' Talked about her as if she was in command of the Scorpion," Reese commented.

 

"That's... odd. Well, let's not dwell on the subject for too long," Pyrrha said. Reese nodded in agreement.

 

"Yeah, let's go got some food," the Faunus girl laughed.

 

The two walked away, unknowing of the eyes watching them.

 

"Cinder... that's one of them?" One asked.

 

"Yes. But she's not the threat," the other replied calmly. "She'll be easy."

 

"Understood, but are you not worried about the other Faunus? The scorpion?" A third asked.

 

"It's possible he'll cause trouble, but very unlikely. Just don't speak to him and he won't be a problem," the leader replied.

 

"Very well," the other two said immediately.

 

* * *

 

Vernon walked out of the dorms, running right into a girl with green hair, red eyes, and a Haven Academy uniform. He backed up, and so did she.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry. I really should look where I'm going," The girl said, chuckling nervously. Vernon glared at her.

 

"Drop the act, Miss Sustrai. And give me that watch back," Vernon said.

 

Emerald began to run, but Vernon wrapped his tail around her leg, tripping her. She dropped the watch, which he quickly picked up and placed on his wrist.

 

"D-Don't hurt me..." Emerald pleaded. Vernon saw real fear in the girl's eyes. Why did he scare her so much?

 

"I'll let you go this time. Do not try this again. Understand?" Vernon asked.

 

"Y-Yes... of course," Emerald replied.

 

With that, Vernon walked off, set on telling his team what he'd learned from the girl.


	11. The Dance

As he walked into the cafeteria, he found that Reese was eating with two teams he recognized, team RWBY and team JNPR.

 

"Reese!" He called. She looked up, and motioned for him to join them.

 

"Hello everyone," he said as he sat down.

 

"Hi!" Said one of the girls. "I'm-"

 

"Ruby Rose," Vernon finished, "16, hails from Patch, mother is Summer Rose, father is Taiyang Xiao Long-Rose."

 

"How do you-?" Ruby began.

 

"Know that? My semblance. Care to explain, Reese?" Vernon asked.

 

"His semblance allows him to know almost everything about a person from the first word out of their mouth," Reese explained.

 

"Oh... but what do you mean almost?" The girl they recognized as Yang Xiao Long asked.

 

"Any secrets that the person keeps buried, things they don't tell anyone, I can't find out this way. I do get an... uneasy feeling, though," Vernon explained to her.

 

"Okay, what can you tell about me?" A raven-haired girl said.

 

"Blake Belladonna. 18, from Menagerie. Parents are Chieftan Ghira Belladonna and Kali Belladonna. Used to run with the White Fang," Vernon said as if he had known the information from the start.

 

"Wow..." Blake said, surprised.

 

"But the person has to say something to you?" A boy with dark hair asked.

 

"Correct. So..." Vernon pointed to the orange-haired girl next to him, "until that chick says something directly to me, I'm ignorant to everything about her."

 

"So... you wouldn't be able to tell my name?" She asked.

 

"I can now. Nora Valkyrie. 18, from Kuroyuri. Saved from a nevermore by Lie Ren, after he discovered his semblance," Vernon said.

 

"How-?" Nora said in disbelief. Vernon just laughed.

 

"Well, it's been nice meeting you, Vernon," Pyrrha said.

 

"Same to you," Vernon replied.

 

Just then, Lori and Sylvia stumbled in, looking exhausted.

 

"What's wrong with them?" Ruby asked.

 

"Well... Syl didn't have the best night," Reese explained.

 

"Oh. Well, I hope tonight's better," Ruby said cheerfully.

 

"I'll pass that along, Ruby," Reese told the younger girl.

 

"Uhh... hate to break this up, guys, but we have a dance to plan," a girl in all white said.

 

"Oh, sorry Weiss!" Ruby said apologetically.

 

"Ruby... what're we going to do with you?" Weiss asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

 

"I'm going to the library," Blake stated, and walked away.

 

"Let's go, team RWBY," Ruby said dejectedly. She walked off, presumably to the ballroom, and her team followed.

 

"Should we... do something?" Sylvia asked.

 

"I don't think there's much that can be done," Pyrrha replied.

 

"Agreed," Lori said, "this seems like something team RWBY has to deal with on their own."

 

"Okay," Sylvia replied sadly.

 

"I have something you all need to hear. A girl tried to steal my watch, but speaking to her... there was something more sinister she's here for," Vernon told them.

 

"What is it, Vernon?" Reese asked.

 

"I'm not sure. She was able to hide exactly what it was, but I know it's there," Vernon replied.

 

"We'll keep an eye on her," Nora reassured him.

 

"Nothing will happen with us on watch," Pyrrha agreed.

 

"I hope not," Vernon said grimly.

 

"Let's not worry about that, Vernon. There's a dance coming up!" Reese said happily. Vernon nodded.

 

"Right, well... I suppose a distraction would be nice," Vernon conceded.

 

"Let's go find stuff to wear!" Reese and Lori said in unison. The entire present company laughed.

 

* * *

 

After about three hours of shopping, they finally had their outfits. Vernon had an all black suit, Sylvia picked out a silvery dress that sparkled in the light, Lori had picked out a black suit jacket and pants with a purple undershirt, and Reese chose a blue dress with a diamond cut in the back.

 

"Well... we'd better get back to campus before the dance starts," Sylvia said. "Let's move, team SLVR!"

 

The team ran for their bullhead, which promptly took them back to Beacon. As soon as they landed, they made a beeline for the dorms to get changed. Sylvia and Lori were the first two done. Lori stopped dead when she saw Sylvia in her dress, her hair done in a braid that ran down her back.

 

"Wow..." she muttered, then covered her mouth realizing she'd said it out loud. Sylvia's face turned a slight shade of red.

 

"T-Thanks, Lori..." she said, a bit flustered. Lori smiled.

 

"You're welcome. You do look amazing, after all," Lori replied. Now it was Sylvia who was smiling.

 

"So do you," She said.

 

Lori looked over herself in the mirror. She wore the suit she had bought in Vale, leaving several buttons undone near the top of her undershirt. The two purple streaks in her hair were braided back around her head, with the rest of her brown hair draped across her shoulders and back. She'd worked hard, but still wasn't sure if she had done well. Hearing Sylvia say it, though, forced out any doubt in her mind.

 

"Thank you, Syl. Now, I presume Reese and Vernon are already there?" Lori asked.

 

"Correct. We should probably go join them," Sylvia replied with a laugh.

 

The pair walked down to the ballroom, where they were greeted immediately by none other than Yang Xiao Long.

 

"I feel like we've been seeing a lot of you recently," Sylvia laughed. Yang laughed too.

 

"I guess so. Not a bad thing, right?" Yang asked jokingly.

 

"Not at all," Lori replied.

 

"Good. Now, have fun, you two," Yang said, and the pair walked into the ballroom.

 

Most people were already dancing or chatting, but a certain red-clad brunette caught their attention. They saw Ruby standing off to the side, and they walked over.

 

"Ruby! What are you doing?" Sylvia asked.

 

"I uh... I don't have anyone to dance with. I also... kinda... can't dance..." Ruby said. Lori looked to Sylvia, who nodded.

 

"Would you be willing to try?" Lori asked.

 

"I guess... but uh, no offense, but... not with either of you," Ruby said with a nervous chuckle.

 

"No, no... but how about Weiss?" Sylvia asked the younger girl.

 

"I... uh... yeah, I guess so," Ruby said, smiling.

 

"Syl, go get Weiss, since we know Neptune isn't going to dance," Lori told her silver-haired partner, who immediately went to find the heiress.

 

"Wait... how do you know he's not going to?" Ruby asked.

 

"Well... we may or may not have been observing when Weiss asked Neptune to the dance. When he said no, we asked why, and... voila," Lori said with a laugh. Ruby laughed too. Soon, Sylvia arrived with Weiss.

 

"Heya, Weiss," Ruby chirped.

 

"Hello Ruby. Sylvia said you needed me?" Weiss asked.

 

"Uh... yeah... do you think you could teach me to dance?" Ruby asked nervously.

 

"I suppose," Weiss replied.

 

"Okay. Don't get mad if I step on you," they all laughed.

 

"Well, Syl, we should probably leave them be," Lori said.

 

"Yeah, let's go," Sylvia agreed.

 

They both walked away, but stopped when Lori tapped Sylvia on the shoulder.

 

"Hmm?" Sylvia turned around to see Lori holding ah hand out to her.

 

"May I have this dance?" Lori asked, and Sylvia could feel her face heat up.

 

"O-Of course," she said, taking Lori's hand.

 

Lori pulled her over, and they began moving in rhythm to the music. Sylvia rested her head on Lori's shoulder.

 

"I'm so glad you're okay..." she muttered.

 

"It's going to take more than a deranged Faunus to get rid of me, Sylvia," Lori reassured her.

 

"He could've killed you, Lori," Sylvia said.

 

"Sylvia... can we not talk about this and just enjoy the night?" Lori asked.

 

"I... I guess. I'm sorry, Lori," Sylvia said, and she raised her head from Lori's shoulder.

 

Meanwhile, Vernon and Reese stood chatting near the door when a very familiar girl with red eyes and green hair entered the room with another student, a boy with grey hair and a matching outfit. Vernon got the same uneasy feeling he had about Emerald.

 

"Reese, that's her. The chick I mentioned earlier," Vernon said, gesturing to Emerald.

 

"What should we do?" Reese asked.

 

"Nothing, for now. Just make sure they don't sneak out too early," Vernon replied.

 

"Well, my question still stands. We have all night," Reese told him, and he laughed.

 

"Well, it is a dance..." he said.

 

"What do you- woah!" Reese said surprised as Vernon pulled her out into the open ballroom.

 

As they danced, Reese could see Vernon was keeping an eye on the emerald-haired girl that had walked in. She held onto his hand tighter, sensing his uneasiness. He visibly relaxed a bit and smiled down at her. She smiled back, and then they heard the laughter. Turning to the source, they saw none other than Jaune Arc... in a dress. They both burst out laughing, just like everyone else in the room. After another hour or so, team SLVR rendezvoused at the entrance to the ballroom, and proceeded back to their dorms in preparation for the next day's missions.


	12. Breach

They'd seen team RWBY off the day before, but Sylvia couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was soon to happen. Her semblance had never been wrong, but it had been a day with nothing going wrong, so she disregarded it. That is, until Beacon Academy's alarms began blaring the next morning. Their mission was shadowing a police captain that afternoon, but now it seemed they had something else to do.

 

"Everyone up and ready!" Sylvia shouted to her teammates as she armored up.

 

She picked up Nightingale and sheathed it on her back. She turned to see Diamond booting up and Reese boarding her. Vernon was clipping on his Scorpion's Pincers, or the Scorpion's Sting as he had now taken to calling them. Lori stood over by the door, Predator's Claw in her hand, ready in bow form.

 

"Let's move, team SLVR! Get to the airdocks!" Sylvia shouted as the team ran out of their dorms, pushing past other students unlucky enough to be in their way.

 

They boarded the first bullhead that was available on the docks, ordering the pilot to take them into the city. As they flew overhead, they saw dozens of Grimm in the city's center, and saw team RWBY and team JNPR in the middle of it all. Noticing some civilians in danger, Lori loosed several arrows, knocking down the Grimm closest to the civilians.

 

While Lori gave continued support from their bullhead, Sylvia, Vernon, and Reese all went down onto the ground, fighting back the Grimm who came at them. Reese, being charged down by several Creeps, who were quickly dispatched by Diamond's machine guns. A Beowolf jumped down at her from a building, but Nightingale wrapped around it and threw it into a building. Sylvia retracted her beloved weapon and charged down the Beowolf, stabbing it through its head. The beast then turned back to smoke, leaving nothing behind. In the distance, they could see Yang get knocked down by several Nevermores, and Vernon immediately ran to her aid, using the mounted guns on Scorpion's Sting to shoot them out of the sky.

 

"Help!" They could bear Sylvia's scream as a Deathstalker ran after her, pinning her to the ground with its pincer.

 

Lori, seeing her friend in danger, leapt from the bullhead, Predator's Claw in sword form. As she plunged, she aimed the sword at the Deathstalker's eyes, one of which it found purchase on. The scorpion Grimm roared, swinging around wildly in an attempt to remove Lori from its head. Sylvia, having recovered from her daze, wrapped Nightingale's blade around the Deathstalker's tail, forcing it into a building, where Lori was able to dismount safely.

 

"Lori! Slide under!" Sylvia shouted.

 

Lori obeyed her command, sliding under the Deathstalker and slicing its unarmored belly. The Deathstalker roared and attempted to crush her, but she was already clear.

 

"Reese, blow it to the moon!" Sylvia shouted.

 

Reese, now turning to look at them, armed Diamond's missile battery, and unleashed four missiles at the Deathstalker. The giant scorpion didn't even have time to see the missiles before they blew it into oblivion. Black smoke erupted from  its decimated body until there was nothing left.

 

"Thanks, Reese," Lori said.

 

"No problem. Uh... where's Vernon?" Reese asked.

 

"Not sure. He went to assist Yang," Sylvia informed them.

 

"I'm here," he said, staggering over. Reese could see he was using his tail in place of one of his legs. "Only... minorly injured."

 

"Vernon, that doesn't seem minor," Reese replied.

 

"It's better than it could've been. I'll be okay," Vernon assured her.

 

"You'd better be," She muttered.

 

The team went to the town center, where teams JNPR, RWBY, CMSN, SSSN, and CFVY were standing with Glynda and Ozpin. Roman Torchwick was being hauled onto one of the Atlesian airships, likely being arrested. Vernon noticed that Emerald became increasingly nervous the longer he was around her, so he walked over to team CMSN.

 

"I don't think I've met any of you before," Vernon said to them.

 

"Oh, right," one of the other girls said, "I'm Cinder. The one in grey is Mercury Black, and the girl in black is Neopolitan. I believe you've already met Emerald?"

 

"That I have. I also notice that you didn't introduce yourself with a last name," Vernon observed.

 

"Oh, that... Neo and I don't like to associate with our last names. Brings back... bad memories," Cinder explained. Vernon played along despite knowing of her lies.

 

"That's fine. If Emerald hasn't said anything yet, my name's Vernon O'Connor. I'm uh... one of the few students at Beacon who haven't unlocked their Semblance yet," Vernon said. Cinder nodded.

 

"Well, we need to get going. I wish you luck on unlocking your semblance," She said as she led her team away. Vernon went and rejoined his team.

 

"Do not trust any of them," he told his team.

 

"Got it. They don't know your semblance?" Lori asked.

 

"Correct. Keep up the act of trusting them for now," Vernon said.

 

"Right. We'll get 'em... in time," Sylvia agreed. "Let's get back to campus. First rounds of the Vytal Festival are coming up, and we need to get some training in tomorrow."

 

"I'm with Syl. I think we deserve some rest," Lori said.

 

"I think I can agree to that," Vernon agreed.

 

"Let's get back to Beacon!" Reese chirped as they boarded the bullhead and flew off.

 

* * *

 

Swords clashed as Lori and Sylvia dueled each other. Lori at first had favored Predator's Claw in sword form, but Nightingale's whip form was able to incapacitate Lori's blade from a distance, allowing Sylvia to get close and use hand-to-hand. While Lori was a formidable opponent, she wasn't as good at hand-to-hand combat as Sylvia, and they both knew it. As Lori charged at Sylvia, unarmed, and threw a fist, Sylvia caught it and jumped to the side, throwing Lori to the ground. Sylvia quickly retrieved Nightingale and swung down at Lori, who quickly rolled out of the way and got to her feet. Sylvia swung again, and this time, Nightingale found purchase on Lori's shoulder, knocking her to the ground as her aura flickered out.

 

"Well done, Sylvia," The girl said as she stood up, brushing off her jacket.

 

"Thanks, Lori," Sylvia replied with a smile and a light blush. Why does she do this to me? Sylvia's mind was racing. Even the slightest compliment sent her spiraling.

 

"Syl? You okay?" Reese asked.

 

"Y-Yeah... Lori, Vernon, head on to the dorms. We'll catch up," Sylvia ordered. The two nodded and walked out. Reese's ears went flat against her head.

 

"Did I... did I do something wrong?" Reese asked.

 

"No! No, of course not. I just... I need to talk to you about something," Sylvia explained. Reese seemed to relax.

 

"In that case... what's up, Sylvia?" The Faunus girl asked.

 

"Uh... it's Lori..." Sylvia muttered, her face turning red.

 

"Oh. Oh. That makes... that makes sense, then," Reese remarked.

 

"What do I do...?" Sylvia asked.

 

"I'm not sure, but... I will say she does seem to feel the same way," Reese pointed out.

 

"What do you mean?" Sylvia was confused.

 

"Well... she put her life on the line to protect you. That's not really something most people would do, unless they cared a great deal about the person they were protecting," Reese explained.

 

"Well... thanks, Reese. I suppose I just... we'll see what happens after the Festival," Sylvia said. Reese nodded.

 

"Anytime, Sylvia. I'm always happy to have a chat, so long as I'm not getting reprimanded," They both laughed, and began to walk back to their dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering... I know that both Whiterose and Bumblebee are mentioned in the tags. It WILL happen, I swear, it just takes time. I’m trying to follow the continuity of the actual show as best I can, and it doesn’t give many opportunities to show it from my characters’ perspectives. But I promise, it WILL be there eventually.


	13. Round One

"Go RWBY!" Sylvia shouted as the team clashed with team ABRN from Haven Academy. Their round was the fourth of the day, so they decided to watch both team RWBY's and team JNPR's matches. As it stood now, both teams seemed pretty evenly matched. That was, until Reese Chloris obtained some fire dust that she integrated into her board, thawing out her previously frozen teammate. She circled around to go after Blake, who seemed to be... staring at the crowd?

 

"Blake!" Lori shouted.

 

Reese's board hit Blake square in the back, but she seemed to vanish. Just then, the Gambol Shroud flew between two icebergs, knocking Reese from her board, and then Blake came around and kicked Reese out of the arena.

 

"Ooh, double whammy! Reese Chloris eliminated by ringout and aura level!" One of the announcers called out. The skater pounded the ground with her fist.

 

"Yeah! Go Blake!" Sylvia shouted. Reese laughed.

 

"Sylvia... you know they can't hear you, right?" She asked. Sylvia stuck her tongue out at the Faunus. Reese just laughed.

 

They were interrupted by Yang's shouting as she pounded all three of the remaining members of team ABRN into the barrier.

 

"And team RWBY wins by knockout! Literally. Can someone go make sure they're okay?" Professor Port said. Team SLVR laughed.

 

"What next?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Let's just watch the next few matches. We gotta have our energy for our fight," Lori said. The entire team agreed.

 

* * *

 

Now came the time. Team SLVR sat in the locker rooms of the Amity Colosseum, standing by for their match. When Professor Port finally called them out, Sylvia was horrified to see who they were against. Port introduced them as Team DLTA, with Devin Marcus standing front and center. Marcus held his mace, while his teammates, London, Tyler, and Arianna held their own weapons. London carried a sword and shield, Tyler held a large battleaxe, and Arianna carried a staff that seemed to be infused with Dust.

 

Sylvia's focus broke as the terrain moved. Behind them laid ruins, and in front of them was a mountain. She began planning their method of attack.

 

"Lori, get to the buildings. Use your arrows for ranged support. Vernon, you go with her and use Scorpion's Sting. Reese, with me. We're getting up close and personal," She ordered. Her team nodded in agreement.

 

"Begin!" Shouted Doctor Oobleck over the loudspeaker, and the match began.

 

Vernon and Lori doubled back for the buildings immediately, firing their weapons all the while. Most of Team DLTA ran for cover, but Devin charged forward. He swung his mace in a circle in front of him, deflecting shots from the L and V of Team SLVR. Sylvia, seeing that he was advancing quickly, signaled to Reese, and they charged forward. Reese kept Marcus under a barrage of bullets while Sylvia got into whip range. She extended Nightingale and wrapped the blade around his mace, allowing Reese's bullet barrage to make contact. Devin was thrown back, and Sylvia retracted her whip, converting it back into a sword. She went to deal another set of blows to Devin, but instead, her semblance activated, and she dove to the side to dodge a blast of fire dust. She turned to look at her attacker. Arianna, staff in hand, just smiled and discharged more fire dust, which Sylvia dodged. Arianna took aim again, but was interrupted when a hard-light arrow knocked her staff away. Arianna stared, wide-eyed, as Lori pounded her into the dust with her bow.

 

"Arianna Lyn has been eliminated by aura level! That puts the match at a 3v4!" Professor Port announced.

 

At that point, Devin was up and had his semblance activated. He swung down at Sylvia, who dodged, but the force of the impact sent her flying back into the mountain. Tyler and London stood over her, weapons in hand. Sylvia looked away, waiting for the hit, but instead heard a grunt and then the sounds of hand-to-hand combat. She looked up, and Vernon stood over her, blocking Tyler's axe with his tail and using his fists to fight back London. He deployed Scorpion's Sting and began to bear down on the girl while Sylvia got to her feet. London, despite being able to accurately predict his movements from her semblance, wasn't able to block every hit because of his shear speed. When Sylvia was able to engage Tyler, Vernon had his tail to work with again and was able to lay down even more punishment onto London, whose aura eventually failed.

 

Reese, now engaged in close quarters combat with the enraged Devin, raised her hard-light shields and activated her sword. Their weapons locked, and Devin stared her dead in the eyes through her visor. She became more terrified the longer she looked at him. Her hard-light shield failed as Diamond lost power momentarily.

 

"Time to lose, Faunus scum," he said, before pushing her to the ground.

 

Devin brought his mace up for the final blow, but instead hit Vernon and sent him flying into the ruins. Reese scrambled for Diamond's emergency release switch, which she found and scrambled out of the powerless suit. Devin swung again, but she jumped out of the way, landing off to the side. She then had an idea. She raced across the arena to where London lay unconscious after her aura failure. She picked up the swordswoman's discarded weapons and readied herself to fight. Vernon ran to her side, also ready to fight. Reese stole a look back at Sylvia and Lori, who were both fighting Tyler. Devin took this chance to charge, but Reese was able to raise London's shield to block. She dropped to her knee from the force of the impact, but still swung London's sword out at Devin, knocking him back.

 

"Vernon, grease monkey!" Reese called out, referring to their team attack.

 

Vernon wrapped his tail around her legs, and spun on his heel, throwing the Faunus girl into Devin, who didn't have any time to react as London's sword hit him square in the jaw. He staggered back, which gave Vernon enough time to hit him with Scorpion's Sting, draining his aura completely. Meanwhile, Sylvia and Lori had disarmed Tyler and eliminated him rapidly afterwards.

 

"Team SLVR is the winner!" Professor Port announced. The crowd cheered.

 

Sylvia looked and saw Ruby waving at her from the crowd, and she waved back. Sylvia then motioned for her team to follow her, and, after retrieving Diamond and returning London's weapons, they left the Amity Colosseum. Reese sent Diamond back to their dorm to charge, so now she stood in her casual outfit, a blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

 

"Wow... I guess 'Blue' really was fitting," Vernon laughed seeing her outfit.

 

"Hey! I like it, okay!" Reese said, annoyed.

 

"Cool it, Blue. Just jokin' with ya," Vernon said, putting his hands in the air as if emphasizing his innocence.

 

"I know, I know," Reese laughed, hugging him playfully. Vernon picked her up with his tail. "Hey!"

 

"What?" He said as he set her down on his back.

 

"I- what are you doing?" Reese laughed harder.

 

"Eh, I just figured you'd want somethin' else to carry you while nuts an' bolts was recharging," he joked.

 

"Sure, why not?" Reese replied. They both laughed.

 

Vernon carried the Faunus girl all the way over to a diner where the rest of Team SLVR was. He picked her up off of his back with his tail, and Sylvia noticed the minor frown on her face when she lost physical contact with him, she gained a smile of her own. Reese must have realized what she was smiling at, because her face went as red as Ruby Rose's cape. That's when Lori noticed.

 

"You okay, Reese?" She asked the blushing feline.

 

"Yeah, yeah... I'm okay," Reese replied.

 

"Well, I don't think 'okay' is quite the right statement," Sylvia laughed.

 

"S-Shut up!" Reese shouted.

 

"Hey, guys, let's stop bothering Blue," Vernon said, stepping in between them. Reese smiled.

 

"Thank you, Vernon," She said.

 

"No problem, cat," Vernon said. Though he'd lost many of his speaking mannerisms in his time at Beacon, he still used that phrase to refer to Reese. Sylvia laughed.

 

"I'm sorry, Reese," she said with an apologetic smile. Reese smiled politely back at her.

 

"It's okay. I just get embarrassed easily," Reese explained.

 

"Anyway... back to business!" Lori announced.

 

"Right! Who are we sending into the doubles round?" Sylvia asked.

 

"I vote for Vernon and Reese," Lori said.

 

"I agree. We do have the most versatility," Reese remarked.

 

"Blue, I have no idea what you just said, but it sounds smart, so I'm in," Vernon agreed.

 

"That settles it, then. Vernon and Reese will advance to the doubles round," Sylvia announced.

 

"Now, can we get some food?" Lori asked.

 

"Yes, Lori, we can go get food," Sylvia responded with a laugh.

 

The team then walked off, unaware of the pair of amber eyes watching them. Cinder looked on from behind a stall, watching the team as they ate, and eventually returned to the arena, where she relinked with her team.


	14. Doubles

"Our next competitors are... Reese Caster and Vernon O'Connor from Beacon, versus... Cain Lordran and Michel Wicker from Atlas!" Professor Port announced as the team's walked out onto the field.

 

The field split into three different areas; a woodland, a field of tall grass, and a volcanic region. Reese armed Diamond's Gatling gun, and Vernon extended Scorpion's Sting. Cain deployed what appeared to be mechanical wings and a spear, while Michael pulled out a sniper rifle.

 

"Great.. another melee/ranged combo..." Reese muttered.

 

"3... 2... 1... begin!" Doctor Oobleck shouted over the speakers.

 

No sooner did the words leave his mouth did a bullet ricochet off of Diamond.

 

"Move!" Reese shouted to Vernon. They both ducked for cover as Cain dove at them, shielded by Michael's sniper fire. "They're working almost as one!"

 

"I know! That's to be expected from Atlas!" Vernon called back as he deflected another stab from Cain with his tail.

 

"Well? What do you suggest we do?" Reese asked.

 

"Use your missiles!" Vernon shouted, looking toward Michael. Reese nodded.

 

The missile launcher popped into place, and Reese released a barrage of missiles toward Michael. He barely had time to react when the missiles hit him, leveling the forest he was perched in. He hit the ground and his aura flickered out.

 

"Michael Wicker has been eliminated!" Port announced.

 

Just then, Cain landed on the back of Diamond and attempted to pry Reese's helmet off. Diamond then flooded her external plating with energy dust in order to shock him. Cain screamed and dove off of the suit. Reese turned to him activating Diamond's Gatling gun, and Vernon walked up beside her, nodding. Just as Cain was getting up, both Vernon and Reese fired their weapons at him, stopping when his aura dropped.

 

"That's it! Team SLVR wins!" Oobleck shouted. Reese looked at Vernon, who smiled back at her. She blushed under her helmet.

 

"Let's get outta here, Blue," he said. She nodded, and they walked out of the arena. Sylvia and Lori met them at the Amity Airdocks.

 

"You two did amazing!" Sylvia shouted, running up and hugging Reese.

 

"Thanks, Sylvia," Vernon laughed, seeing Reese unsure what to do. She obviously wanted to hug Sylvia back, but didn't want to crush the girl with Diamond.

 

"Syl... can I dismount before you hug me?" Reese asked.

 

Sylvia nodded, and the Faunus dismounted her suit. Sylvia jumped and hugged her again, and nearly knocked her over. Reese recovered, hugging Sylvia back.

 

"Now the question is; who are we sending to the finals?" Lori asked.

 

"I say we send Reese," Vernon said, "she was very impressive during that last bout."

 

Reese blushed, but this time, it was visible. "I-I really wasn't all that great."

 

"You kidding? Without you, that sniper would have torn me to pieces! You may as well have won the match for us!" Vernon remarked.

 

"I- really?" Reese asked. Vernon nodded.

 

"Then it's settled. Reese moves on to the final round!" Sylvia declared to the amusement of everyone else.

 

Just then, Lori saw Coco and Yatsuhashi limp by. She ran over to them.

 

"Coco! What happened?" She asked. Coco looked at her, but couldn't seem to form words.

 

"Mercury and Emerald," Velvet answered, helping Coco to walk.

 

"Those two... I said not to trust them," Vernon said.

 

"What could have gone wrong?" Sylvia asked. "You two are amazing."

 

"Emerald can cast illusions," Vernon explained.

 

"And you didn't bother to tell anyone?!" Sylvia said angrily.

 

"Calm down, Syl..." Lori said, trying to calm Sylvia.

 

"Don't tell me to calm down, Lori!" Sylvia shouted.

 

"Listen, this isn't the time. She used her semblance, just like anyone else," Velvet tried to calm the silver-eyed girl down.

 

"Let's focus on the singles round tomorrow," Reese added. Sylvia visibly relaxed.

 

"Okay..." she muttered. They began to walk away, and Lori mouthed 'I'm sorry' to Velvet. Emerald watched from a distance.

 

"Cinder... this may be a problem. They know my semblance," She said. Cinder nodded.

 

"That's why Mercury is advancing," She replied.

 

"I... okay. Got it," Emerald agreed.

 

"Soon, Emerald. Soon," Cinder said, leading the other girl away.


	15. The Fall

Sylvia woke up late that day, seeing Yang's outburst on the news. She knew Pyrrha's match was today, and wondered if Yang's accident had anything to do with Team CMSN, seeing as she was against Mercury. She shook the thoughts from her head, waiting on their match the next day. She knew her teammates needed sleep. She wanted to go see Pyrrha, though...

 

"Everybody up!" She shouted, earning her three groans from her teammates.

 

"Sylvia... why...?" Vernon groaned out.

 

"We need to go see Pyrrha's match!" She replied excitedly.

 

"Sylvia... it's 10:00 p.m..." Lori said.

 

"I know, but... please...?" Sylvia begged.

 

"Let's go, guys," Reese agreed, "I mean... we are already up."

 

The team nodded groggily and get dressed. They walked out at the Beacon Airdocks, boarding the last transport up to the Amity arena. As they arrived, Reese looked like she was going to be sick.

 

"Blue, you okay?" Vernon asked. Suddenly, Reese's gaze shot up to them.

 

"Stop the match," she said.

 

"What? Why?" Sylvia asked.

 

"Please... you have to stop the match!" She said in a raised tone.

 

"Sylvia, Lori, head up to the booth. Tell Port to hold the match till tomorrow," Vernon said. Sylvia nodded. "Now... what's wrong, Reese?"

 

"Something just feels... wrong. It feels like something bad's about to happen," Reese explained, sitting on the ground. Vernon sat beside her.

 

"Well... Syl will convince them to hold the match. Don't worry," he assured her.

 

It had been fifteen minutes with no announcement, but then... they heard the shocked gasps of the people in the arena. They ran inside to see a girl, who seemed to be robotic, in pieces on the ground. Pyrrha day crying across the arena. Suddenly, the screens in the arena switched to an image of a black queen chess piece. A voice sounded over the intercom.

 

"This is not a tragedy. This is not an accident," a woman said. "This is what happens when you put your trust in those in power. They promise they will protect you. But that's beside the point. Ask yourselves this: why does Atlas need a robot that looks like a harmless little girl? I don't think the Grimm know the difference. Now, I leave you with one final question. When the time comes, and war breaks across the kingdoms, who will you place your trust in? Yourself, or the fools you've placed in power?"

 

The screens cut away, and a severe threat alert blared through the arena. Reese looked up, and a Nevermore was attempting to break through the barrier on the ceiling of the colosseum. Sylvia and Lori ran down to join Vernon and Reese at the spectator area of the arena.

 

"We need to do something!" Sylvia shouted.

 

"But we don't have our-" Vernon was cut off by the shattering of the overhead barrier.

 

As it did, Reese saw Jaune jump the barrier and run towards Pyrrha. Unfortunately, the Nevermore landing caused a shockwave that knocked both huntsmen to the ground. The Nevermore went to attack Pyrrha, but a red blur shot towards it, and its head shot up in pain. Lori saw Ruby holding one of the robot girl's swords in the Nevermore, then jumping off and standing in between the giant bird and Pyrrha. Sylvia got a message on her scroll. It was from Ren and simply read 'locker.'

 

"Guys! Call your lockers down onto the Nevermore!" Sylvia ordered, and her team obeyed.

 

They ran forward at the Nevermore as several dozen lockers rained down on it, pinning it to the ground. Among them stood Diamond, who walked over to Reese holding her pistol. Reese holstered the revolver, then mounted Diamond. Sylvia pulled Nightingale from her locker, while Lori and Vernon did the same with Predator's Claw and Scorpion's Sting. As they walked off of the beast, it cawed loudly and began to rise. A silent order was issued among them, and several people made haste to attack it. In less than a minute, the bird was reduced to nothing but smoke. They rallied around the lockers, and Ruby called out to Sun for his scroll. Less than a second later, a locker landed and opened, revealing Crescent Rose. She ran for it, but a Griffin landed on the locker. Fortunately, Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck were able to drive it away.

 

"Students, I think it would be best for you to leave," Professor Port said.

 

"But we can fi-" Ruby began to argue.

 

"This day will surely go down in Remnant's history. I'd prefer it if my sudents live to tell about it," Doctor Oobleck interrupted. Ruby nodded and signaled for everyone to leave the arena.

 

As they ran to the airdocks, they found General Ironwood boarding his ship. After a brief conversation, they boarded a transport to Vale, apart from most of the group. On board, Cardin approached them with Dove Bronzewing.

 

"Everyone okay?" He asked, his normal arrogant tone gone.

 

"We're... we could be better. But let's focus on securing the city," Sylvia replied. Cardin nodded.

 

They looked out the window to see a locker propelling itself towards the ship Ironwood had said was hijacked. Upon closer inspection, Sylvia saw that none other than Ruby Rose was holding on to it, and seemed intent on boarding the ship for some reason. Sylvia shook her head, readjusting her focus on her mission. The transport landed , and Sylvia began assigning tasks.

 

"Vernon, go find Glynda. See how you can help. Reese, use Diamond and help any stranded civilians. Lori, with me, we're going to find that woman. Vernon called her Cinder," She said. Her team nodded in agreement, running off to complete their tasks.

 

It was no more than twenty minutes after they'd begun that they received a call from Reese.

 

"Guys, we have to get to Beacon tower! Jaune said Pyrrha's up there, fighting the woman who spoke on the intercom!" She called over her scroll.

 

"Got it, Reese! Everyone, meet up at the airdocks," Sylvia replied.

 

The team rallied at the airdocks, boarding the first transport for Beacon. As they arrived, they found the school in chaos. Atlesean Knights and Paladins were attacking civilians and Atlesean soldiers. Huntsmen and huntresses, as well as students, were racing around the campus attempting to restore order. Everything was in chaos.

 

"Lori, with me, we're heading up!" Sylvia called.

 

"What about us?" Vernon asked.

 

"You two make sure we get there," Sylvia ordered, gesturing to the dozens of Grimm in between them and the tower.

 

Next came explosions and gunshots as Reese and Vernon cleared a path for Sylvia and Lori as they ran. They found Weiss at the bottom.

 

"Weiss! What's going-" Sylvia started.

 

"Get up there!" Weiss shouted, summoning glyphs on the tower. "Ruby will need help!"

 

Sylvia nodded, and began racing up the tower, Lori on her tail. As they neared the top, they heard Cinder talking to Pyrrha. As they peaked at the top of the tower, they saw Cinder aiming at Pyrrha with her glass bow. Ruby stood off to the side.

 

"Pyrrha!" Ruby and Sylvia shouted in unison, and a bright white light lit up the night.


End file.
